Did you know Frank Sarna or have any thoughts you'd like to share about him in the comments below?

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Westlake track star Frank Sarna III lost the last race of his life in a battle for survival 34 years ago.

On Jan. 28, 1980, he and 22 other crewmen of the Coast Guard cutter Blackthorn were killed after their ship collided with an oil tanker near the Tampa Bay Sunshine Skyway Bridge and sank.

But Sarna’s role that night in the worst peacetime accident in Coast Guard history created a legacy of heroism that was honored Monday with dedication of the new $1 million Ensign Frank J. Sarna III Patrol Boat Support Building and Fitness Center at the Coast Guard Sector St. Petersburg base.

As a plaque affixed to that building notes: “After Blackthorn sank, Ensign Sarna was seen on the surface of the water, safe and out of harm’s way. However, without regard for his own safety, he selflessly made repeated dives below the water in an attempt to assist and free trapped crewmembers. Despite the dark water, strong current, and the presence of dangerous objects both above and below the surface, Ensign Sarna refused to quit on his shipmates. Tragically, after one of his dives, he failed to resurface.”

Sarna’s actions came as no surprise to his family and friends, many of whom attended the dedication officiated by Admiral Robert J. Papp Jr., U.S. Coast Guard commandant. A poignant moment during a brunch with Papp came when guests passed around Sarna's Coast Guard Academy ring. He was wearing that ring, inscribed "the resolve to be worthy," when he died.

Pat Sarna, mother of Frank and six other children, remembered when he saved his uncle from drowning during a family vacation outing. “Frank had just come back from Boy Scout camp where he earned his lifesaving badge,” she said.

Kathy Gillis-Soltan, who was in the same class as Sarna at Westlake High School and a close friend, said after she heard about his heroism, “I remember thinking, of course. Of course Frank would do that.”

In high school, Sarna was captain of the track team and broke five standing school records. (After his death the Frank Sarna Memorial Scholarship Fund was created with annual awards to two senior track athletes who display Sarna’s qualities of scholastic achievement, athletic excellence, personal character and leadership.)

Gillis-Soltan, 56, now living in Maine, said a fitness center is a fitting honor for someone she described as “an amazing athlete. That was very important to him. He was a very disciplined guy, with an incredible work ethic.”

(The fitness center will serve some 600 local Coast Guard personnel. The facility also features storage bays and office spaces for the five patrol boats serving the area.)

She still has letters he wrote to her while he was attending the Coast Guard academy. “He loved the Coast Guard,” she said. “He always talked about his friends. They were his touchstones. His letters really focused a lot on his connections with people, and I think that’s what powered him to do what he needed to do.”

Family members said Sarna’s interest in the Coast Guard was coupled with the desire to get a degree in marine biology.

“We weren’t boat people or anything like that, but he was very, very happy there,” his mother, who now lives in Arizona, recalled.

She remembered when she visited him at the academy, “and he looked very handsome in his uniform, but he said, ‘Mom, no PDAs (public displays of affection).’ And I said, ‘You mean I can’t even give my son a hug? Forget that!’ ”

Steve Sarna, 54, also of Arizona, said his older brother was interested in getting a pilot’s license. “He was a Type A, outgoing leader. Never say die. There was nothing he wasn’t willing to try,” Sarna said.

“He was going to take it (the Coast Guard) for all it was worth, whatever they offered, and try to get as much out of it as he possibly could,” he added. “I think he was looking to make a career out of it.”

He was also engaged to be married to high school classmate Linda Gavin.

When Sarna graduated from the Coast Guard Academy in 1979, his first assignment was as an ensign aboard the USCG Blackthorn, a 180-foot buoy tender with a crew of 50, stationed at Galveston, Tex. (During World War II the ship was assigned to ice-breaking duty on the Great Lakes).

In late 1979 the Blackthorn underwent a major overhaul in Tampa, Fla., and was returning to Galveston the night of the collision. Sarna was on the ship’s bridge as navigator.

According to the Coast Guard, the Blackthorn was headed out to sea when it was overtaken and passed by another ship, blocking its view of the incoming oil tanker Capricorn. Both ships took evasive action when a collision seemed imminent.

But the Capricorn’s anchor snagged the Blackthorn, dragging the Coast Guard cutter, then flipping it on its side in a matter of seconds. The Blackthorn capsized and sank in 40 feet of water within 10 minutes.

The ship was later raised but had been too extensively damaged to repair. It was towed 20 miles offshore and sunk again to form an artificial reef, and is now a popular diving and fishing site.

Frank Sarna and two of his shipmates were buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

A monument dedicated to those who perished has been established at the Blackthorn Memorial Park near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Additionally, in 1990 a housing complex at Coast Guard Group Galveston was named for Sarna and a permanently lit buoy in Galveston Bay features a commemorative plaque to the Blackthorn.

News of the disaster came as a shock to Sarna’s family and friends.

“It was an absolute shock to see his life cut short like that, with all his dreams ahead of him,” Gillis-Soltan said. “I still really miss him.”

Steve Sarna said, “It still bothers me to this day. There weren’t a whole lot of concrete answers as to what happened and why it happened.

“For me, personally, I just try not to think about it. It’s still very painful for me,” he added.

Pat Sarna said the dedication is a bittersweet event for many members of he family. “We feel honored for the recognition, but then again it brings back a whole bunch of memories,” she said.

Returning to the area of the disaster also produced a few disquieting moments. "We drove over the Sunshine Skyway Bridge at night, and it was so black and dark below, and I was thinking gosh, how can anybody see anything down there? It was kind-of spooky,” she said.

She remembered when she was at a similar anniversary memorial in Galveston a few years ago when a man approached her. “He said that Frank had saved his life that night. He said, ‘I just wanted you to know that, and I’m troubled to know why? What’s expected of me now?’”

She didn’t have an answer for him.

She also said she recently learned that one of her son’s academy classmates had risen to the rank of admiral in the Coast Guard.

“I remember thinking to myself, oh my gosh, if things had been different, Frank could’ve been an admiral,” she said.

Follow Us

cleveland.com is powered by Plain Dealer Publishing Co. and Northeast Ohio Media Group. All rights reserved (About Us).The material on this site may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Northeast Ohio Media Group LLC.